Protecting Your Heart and Mine
by starbuckfaerie21
Summary: Elena finally realizes which Salvatore brother she truly loves.


Protecting Your Heart and Mine

**Disclaimer: **_The Vampire Diaries_belongs to L.J. Smith, The CW & Kevin Williamson.Wish I owned Ian Somerhalder though. The lyrics belong to Florence & the Machine

**Pairing**: Damon/Elena

**Spoilers**: All of the book series and up to current episode of the TV show.

**Summary**: Elena finally realizes which Salvatore brother she truly loves.

**Author's Note**: My first foray into _Vampire Diaries_. Enjoy!

"_And is it worth the wait,_

_All this killing time?_

_And are you strong enough to stand,_

_Protecting both your heart and mine?"_

_-Florence & the Machine, "Heavy In Your Arms"_

Damon Salvatore poured himself a bourbon and sat down in front of the fireplace; satisfied with the knowledge that Katherine was safely ensconced in the tomb where she belonged. He'd taken care of it himself. After all, he couldn't trust Stefan to do it, and he wouldn't have believed that she'd been taken care of unless he'd seen it with his own eyes.

He stared into the bright orange flames and pushed away all thoughts and memories of Katherine into the deepest recesses of his mind. For hundreds of years he'd been in love with her, but after everything she'd done to him, to his brother, and especially to Elena, he knew that he'd done the right thing. She kept telling him to be a better man and damn it he was trying. He was trying to do it for her.

_For Elena_.

Just the thought of her brought warmth to his cold heart and a lazy smile to his lips. Despite their friendship and her knowledge of how Damon felt about her, Elena had sworn that she would never put herself between the two Salvatore brothers the way that Katherine had.

_Katherine_.

There she was again creeping back into his thoughts. He felt a sudden rush of anger, when he thought of the spell that Katherine had cast to trick both he and Stefan into hurting Elena on the night of the Lockwood masquerade ball.

Damon picked up his drink and was just about to take a sip, when there was a very insistent pounding on the door.

_It figures._

With a roll of his eyes, Damon set down his drink, and took a few steps toward the door just as the pounding began anew.

"I can hear you and I'm coming." Damon shouted in annoyance as he quickly reached for the doorknob, in an effort to silence the unwanted noise.

Damon's annoyance quickly turned to concern as he opened the door to find Bonnie and Jeremy supporting a badly injured and barely conscious Elena on either side.

"What the hell happened?" Damon asked as he gently pushed the slight dark-skinned witch out of the way and took Elena's weight.

"Jeremy and I were at The Grill together…." Bonnie's voice barely concealed her fear, and tears ran down her cheeks,"and Elena was there with Elijah."

At this point Jeremy spoke up, "We thought that if she was meeting Elijah that Stefan would be there to back her up. But he never showed."

"That sounds like Stefan." Damon agreed as he took inventory of Elena's injuries. Her right leg was twisted at an awkward angle, probably badly broken.

Any other time he probably wouldn't have minded the sight. Or the sound he heard in his mind of what the bones sounded like as they snapped.

But seeing the injury on Elena made him cringe.

There was a deep cut across her thigh, near the femoral artery that was bleeding profusely. Jeremy had wrapped the torn sleeve of his shirt around the wound, but by now it was almost as soaked with blood as the leg of the jeans that Elena was wearing.

Even without his acute vision, he would have noticed the bruises around her neck, as if one of Elijah's minions had tried to strangle her.

Damon vowed to find that vampire and end him. _Painfully_.

The unique smell of Elena's blood always intoxicated him. His enhanced olfactory senses took in the familiar scent but it was tainted with something else.

_Poison. I told her making a deal with Elijah was a bad idea._

Damon placed both hands gently yet forcefully on her shoulders before he spoke, "Elena sweetheart, Look at me! Focus. What did Elijah give you?"

No one questioned Damon as the endearment slipped from his lips but Bonnie shot him a strange look.

Elena's eyes were glazed and unfocused so it was Bonnie that spoke, "She had a soda on the table. I didn't see him put anything in it. I should've been paying closer attention."

"Not Bonnie's fault…Tried to leave…Wasn't fast enough…couldn't get away…"

Elena Gilbert never ceased to amaze him. Even when she was hurt and in pain she always put the needs of others before her own.

"She's right. If Elijah wanted to he could spike a drink without you noticing."

Damon meant more to give Elena peace of mind than to comfort her friend; but his words seemed to do both at least for a moment until Elena spoke once more. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Damon…

The sound of his name from her lips was heaven. But he kept his expression blank.

"You shouldn't try to talk. Unless of course it's to tell me something useful."

Elena took a shallow breath, and replied, "I'm sorry…You tried to warn me about Elijah. I should have listened to you."

_Just when he thought he'd had her figured out. Of all the things she could've said with what may have been her last words, she was apologizing to him. She was so much more than either he or his brother deserved._

He shoved Jeremy out of the way, picked Elena up, and cradled her against his chest.

"You've never listened to me before. Why start now? I mean aside from the fact that you could have saved yourself some pain and suffering."

Damon couldn't help the smile that spread across his lips. And he was glad to see that even through her pain; Elena was able to muster up a smile of her own. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes but he took comfort in the fact that she was smiling nonetheless.

Her skin was already feverish and slick with sweat as her body tried and failed to expel the deadly toxin.

He walked past the couch without a second thought and went upstairs into his bedroom, leaving Bonnie and Jeremy standing in the living room.

Under different circumstances, having Elena Gilbert in his bed would have been a dream come true. But at the moment, he wanted to do nothing more than ease her pain.

"What should we do?" Bonnie's shrill and terrified voice came from the living room.

"Go and see if you can find my brother. Maybe the three of you can put your heads together and figure out what kind of poison Elijah used on her."

It was a fool's errand, and he knew it. The type of poison was irrelevant. He knew that Elena wouldn't want her brother and her friend to see what he was about to do.

"What about Elena?" Jeremy asked.

"I'll take care of Elena." Damon replied in a voice that was almost a growl and brooked no discussion.

"I could stay and help you. Maybe I could work a spell to help with her pain."

Damon shook his head, memories of Katherine's spell and the way it had hurt Elena still fresh in his mind.

"Thanks but I think we've had about enough magic for the moment."

Jeremy was already walking out the open door.

After lingering a moment to whisper words of assurance to her friend, Bonnie followed.

"Thank God, I thought they'd never leave." Damon said as he surveyed Elena's injuries more closely.

Elena opened her mouth to reply but suddenly the dam that she'd been using to hide her pain from Bonnie and Jeremy broke and she let the tears flows.

She swallowed her tears and whispered, "Damon…it hurts."

He met her eyes and tried to make his expression say what he couldn't find the words to.

Then he nodded and turned to leave the room. She reached up and grasped his arm in a feeble attempt to pull him back.

"No Damon please. Don't go."

He turned back and met her eyes.

_Did she really think he could bear to leave her in such agony?_

They were in the bathroom now and Elena had no idea how she'd gotten there.

"This isn't how I imagined undressing you." Damon said as unbuttoned and unzipped her bloodstained jeans and gently pulled them down her legs, regretting the hiss of pain from Elena when the stained denim stuck to her wound. Her vision started to lose focus as her body began to shake.

"I'm cold…so cold…" Elena whispered.

"You've got a fever from the poison. I have to clean your wound anyway. And a bath might make you feel better."

With vampire speed and grace, Damon had stripped her of her torn and bloody clothing and placed her gently in the warm tub. She let Damon wash her sore and injured body as if she were a helpless child.

She knew he was probably compelling her to keep her calm, but she was in too much pain to protest.

"Damon…I can't stand up."

"No need. I've got you. Close your eyes and take a deep breath."

When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on Damon's bed in a soft white cotton robe and he was at her side. Elena looked around the room, at Damon and back again, and Damon felt her heartbeat quicken.

"I'm going to draw the poison out."

"How?" She whispered the word, even though she already knew the answer.

"You're a smart girl, Elena. Figure it out."

"Not from my neck?"

She spoke softly and Damon shook his head, "You've already lost too much blood. If I open another artery you'll bleed to death."

"But won't it hurt you?"

He shook his head again, "Vampire remember? Poison can't kill me. I'm already dead. You on the other hand…

"Okay Damon, I get it just do me a favor…"

_Anything._

"I thought I was already doing that. You know, by trying to save your life."

He emphasized the word trying in an effort to convey the idea that time was of the essence.

"Drink some of the Black Magic wine first. Just in case. I don't want anything to happen to you while you're trying to save me."

Damon sighed, "You're a beautiful girl but you're so damn stubborn. I'm beginning to think you're just stalling."

As he spoke, Damon moved quickly to the sideboard and pulled out the wine. He took several long pulls straight from the bottle and wasted no time coming back to the task at hand.

"There. Happy?" He asked as he knelt beside the bed.

"Yes. And maybe I was stalling just a little."

He smiled, "I know. I promise to make this as painless as possible. You might even enjoy it."

"Let's just get this over with." Elena said as she clenched her teeth.

"Now the fun part…well for me anyway. You ready?"

Elena nodded and tried to keep still, steeling herself for the inevitable pain. She felt Damon's firm grip on her hand.

Seconds later she felt the pressure of Damon's mouth against her leg. There was some pain but she knew Damon had taken the brunt of it from her telepathically.

She swore she could hear own heartbeat faintly in her ears. And then she heard nothing at all.

Damon stopped drinking from Elena when he couldn't taste the poison in her blood anymore. She had lost consciousness but her heartbeat and pulse were still strong. When she awoke, he would give her some of his blood to accelerate the healing process. He had cleaned and bandaged her wound but her leg was still badly broken and her throat would still be bruised and sore.

He occupied himself by wiping the sweat from her forehead and face with a cool washcloth. He thought that Elena was waking when she cried out in her sleep.

"Don't …I won't let you hurt them…Elijah….And I won't let you kill me!"

Damon put his hands gently on her shoulders to calm her and Elena kept squirming as if to escape from Elijah's clutches.

Damon shook his head, "No Elena, you're safe…It's Damon. I won't let him hurt you."

After a moment, she surrendered to sleep once again.

It was almost dawn when Elena woke. The room was fuzzy around her and even the dim light of the bedroom seemed impossibly bright.

"Good morning. I was wondering when you were going to wake up. For a while there I thought I'd taken too much from you."

Damon?" There was an edge of uncertainty in her voice. Or maybe it was fear that her worst nightmare had come true and Elijah had gotten her.

Her voice was hoarse and scratchy and it burned uncomfortably to speak. She could still feel Elijah's henchman's burly hands wrapped around her throat.

"The one and only. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Elena answered as she tried to seem brave and keep her voice from shaking at the same time.

"My dear, sweet Elena, you really are a terrible liar. Elijah really should teach his minions to pick on people their own size."

Elena laughed and then winced at the pain it caused in her throat. She was silent for a moment and then she whispered, "Oh my God! Jenna's going to freak when she finds out I never came home! I have to get to school…"

She moved a little too quickly to get to her feet. The room began to spin and a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea came over her. She was certain she would have passed out, if it hadn't been for Damon's quick reflexes and speed that caught her and put her back in bed.

"I wouldn't try to move so fast if I were you. I might not be there next there next time."

_Even as he said it, he knew it was a lie. They both did. He'd always be there for her._

"And don't worry about Jenna. Jeremy told her that you slept over at Bonnie's last night and then went to school today."

"But how am I going to explain my leg?" Elena asked as she leaned back against the pillow with a sigh.

"It won't be a problem. Just trust me."

Elena rolled her eyes and looked around the room for a moment suddenly overcome with thirst. As if Damon had read her thoughts, there was a glass of water on the nightstand. She reached for it and Damon's fingers touched hers as he moved to help her.

"Sip it slowly, I don't feel like cleaning up after a sick human."

Elena nodded and tried painfully to sit up. Once again Damon was there supporting her, with one hand against her back and the other holding the glass to her lips so she could drink.

"Thank you." Elena whispered and he nodded.

For a few moments they were both silent and then she spoke softly.

"Damon, why didn't Stefan show up to help me?"

Damon shrugged, "You'll have to ask him. But my baby brother has always had a problem following through with things."

She looked at him with a quizzical expression. "Meaning?"

He had a million answers to that question. But he would never tell Elena any of them because they would hurt her too much.

_Stefan is afraid to face Elijah._

_He never thought you'd get hurt._

_He doesn't love you the way I do._

Damon excelled at subtlety, and he changed the subject. As far as he was concerned, the conversation was over, but he knew Elena would bring in up again, no doubt at the most inappropriate time in the near future. He knew exactly what to say to make her drop the subject, if only momentarily.

"Since you're awake you should drink some of my blood."

That definitely got her attention and she met his eyes with a shocked expression, "What?"

"Oh don't look at me like that. My blood can heal you and it's not like you and Stefan haven't done it a million times before. Besides, it's only fair. I had some of yours. And it was quite delicious by the way, even with the poisonous aftertaste. But before we do that, I need to set the broken bone in your leg. Otherwise, you'll have to spend hours in the emergency room and you'll have a hell of a time explaining a cast to Jenna.

At this Elena looked surprised, "You can do that?"

Damon nodded, "Stefan and I were both medical students once upon a time. He didn't tell you?"

"He told me that he wanted to be a doctor."

"Yeah, but he probably left out the little detail that he only wanted to do that because it was what I wanted."

Damon placed both hands on her bare leg, one above her knee and the other just below her hip.

"Okay, count of three. One…"

Suddenly there was an audible snap as Damon set her leg back to its natural angle. Pain coursed like fire from her hip to her toes and Elena fought back tears.

"Ouch, you said the count of three." She whispered through clenched teeth.

Damon shrugged, "It hurts less if you don't know it's coming. Besides, my blood will help the pain."

Without preamble, he bit into his wrist and held it to Elena's mouth. As her lips touched his flesh, and began to suck the blood, he closed his eyes, caught up in the pleasure of the moment.

After he was sure that she had ingested enough of his blood, he gently drew his wrist away. The wound was already healing as he guided her head back to pillow.

"Thank you, Damon. If you hadn't been there…You saved my life." Elena whispered softly.

"You should get some rest. Don't put too much stress on your leg for a few days. It's not completely healed but you should be able to walk on it. But it will probably hurt when it rains, for the rest of your life."

"Good to know." Elena replied as the combination of pain, exhaustion, and Damon's blood made her slip back into sleep.

When Elena awoke again the house was silent. She got dressed in some of her clothes from Stefan's room, gathered up her things and scribbled a quick thank you note to Damon, before she locked the front door behind her, got into her car that was inexplicably parked outside and drove home.

She'd just gotten out of the car in front of her house, when Stefan appeared at her side. He had a concerned expression on his face.

"Elena! Are you all right? I spent the night hunting in the woods. Bonnie was hysterical at school today. She said you were with Damon. He didn't try to hurt you did he? It's okay we can talk here. No one's home."

Elena met his gaze in disbelief. "No Stefan, Damon didn't try to hurt me. He took care of me after Elijah attacked me last night! He saved my life!"

_He's always saving me._

But Elena had more to say, "Why wasn't it you, Stefan? Why weren't you with me?"

"Elena…I…"

"And don't tell me it's because you're not as strong as Damon. It has nothing to do with the blood. It's because…It's because Damon loves me."

_It's because Damon loves me. _

"And you think I don't love you?" Stefan asked.

By now, Elena was crying as she finally spoke the truth that she'd always known but just now realized out loud.

"No, Stefan I _know_ you don't. If you really loved me, you would've been there with me last night!"

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance and a chilly rain had started to fall as Elena turned away from Stefan and ran back in the direction she'd come.

As Stefan called out to her, begging to explain, she only ran faster in the opposite direction.

By the time Elena reached the house, she was soaked, and she had no idea if Damon would even be there as she pounded breathlessly on the door. Her leg ached and she could barely stay on her feet as she waited for what seemed like forever for him to open the door.

His expression changed instantly from surprise to concern, not unlike the night before when he saw her.

"Elena? What's wrong?"

He peered out the door and squinted into the rain, obviously looking for her car.

"How did you get here?" Damon asked perplexed.

"I ran…"She paused for a moment and took a breath. Her lungs burned from the exertion.

"You ran all the way here from your house? You should be resting your leg…

Elena nodded again, "I know but I came here because there's something I need to tell you."

He must have read the seriousness on her face because he didn't make his usual sarcastic remark.

"I'm sorry Damon…It was all my fault…I didn't mean to hurt you…I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was protecting your heart and mine from being broken. I don't want to come between you and Stefan the way that Katherine did…"

"Elena, you're _nothing_ like Katherine. Come inside out of the rain."

Damon pulled her gently by the arm but she clearly wasn't ready to come inside.

"Please Damon, just let me get this out…You're always saving me…And I know how you feel about me…But I finally realized… I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize… I've been so stupid…"

As she spoke her injured leg gave out and she grabbed the doorjamb in a futile effort to balance.

But then she was in Damon's arms, her wet body pressed against his chest.

"Elena, what are you trying to tell me?"

"I'm trying to tell you that I love you, Damon."

_Finis_


End file.
